The New Public Library

Design Innovation for the Twenty-First Century

R. Thomas Hille

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• eBook ISBN:
  9780429831416
• Topic: Architecture
• Subtopic: Architecture General

The New Public Library is an in-depth design study of an exemplary collection of recent public libraries, and the historical precedents that have informed and inspired their development. An introductory overview presents seven critical themes that characterize public library design, past and present, highlighting the expressive architectural potential of this unique and important building type. A survey of over 40 historically significant libraries traces the development of the building type over time, with a primary focus on precedents from the US and northern Europe, where the modern public library originated, and its design has been most comprehensively developed. A selection of nearly 50 contemporary projects from the past 30 years focuses on the most current developments in public library design, with a diverse and varied collection of work by over 35 regional, national, and international design firms. Highly visual in its presentation, the study includes 885 color photographs and illustrations, and 195 scale drawings.

Part I Precedents

1. Library of Celsus
2. Gloucester Abbey Library
3. St. Walburg's Chapter House Library
4. Merton College Library
5. Laurentian Library
6. Library at El Escorial
7. Trinity College Library
8. University of Virginia Library
9. Boston Athenaeum
10. Boston Public Library
11. Astor Library
12. Peabody Institute Library
13. Crane Memorial Library
14. Bibliothèque Ste. Geneviève
15. Boston Public Library
16. New York Public Library
17. Ottumwa Public Library
18. Decatur Public Library
19. Washington Central Library
20. New York Public Library Branches
21. Newberry Library
22. Multnomah County Library
23. Detroit Public Library
24. Cleveland Public Library
25. Los Angeles Public Library
26. Enoch Pratt Free Library
27. Stockholm Public Library
28. Viipuri Library
29. Mt. Angel Abbey Library
30. New York Public Library 135th Street Branch Addition
31. Grosse Pointe Public Library
32. North End Branch Library
33. Magnolia Branch Library
34. Cincinnati Main Library
35. New Orleans Public Library
36. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library
37. Atlanta Central Public Library
38. Berlin State Library
39. Phillips Exeter Academy Library
40. Boston Public Library Addition
41. Sulzer Regional Library
42. Harold Washington Library Center

The survey of design precedents that follows focuses primarily on developments in the U.S., where the public library as a modern institution first appeared, and where its architectural influence over time has been most pervasive. In the period before 1800, it includes European libraries of the early classical, medieval, and Renaissance eras, the influences of which were important in the development of the American public library in the nineteenth century. From 1800 to the 1880s, early public libraries in the U.S. represent the formative architectural development of the building type, adapting traditional European precedents to accommodate the new public library program. From the 1850s to 1910s, early Beaux-Arts libraries, based on classical precedents, incorporate closed stacks to house growing collections, establishing in the process new relationships between the formal reading room, books, and library services. From the 1890s to 1920s, the widespread proliferation of Carnegie libraries establishes a new era of public library building in the U.S., introducing important program and design innovations that improve functionality and expand the library’s user base. From the 1890s to 1930s, decentralized departmental libraries present new strategies and opportunities for organizing large collections, with distributed stacks and reading rooms facilitating public access to materials and services. From the 1920s to 1940s, early modern libraries in Europe and the U.S. introduce a new functionalism in architecture that facilitates library operations and the integration of readers, books, and library services. From the 1950s to 1970s, postwar modern libraries emblematic of a more pragmatic, utilitarian approach to design, deinstitutionalize the library environment by making it more informal, flexible, and livable. In the 1970s and 1980s, postmodern libraries show a renewed interest in classical Beaux-Arts precedents as viable models of planning and design adapted for contemporary use.

Chapter 1 European Influences–Before 1800

1. Library of Celsus
2. Gloucester Abbey Library
3. St. Walburg's Chapter House Library
4. Merton College Library
5. Laurentian Library
6. Library at El Escorial
7. Trinity College Library

The public library is a quintessentially American institution, first developed and widely popularized in the U.S., beginning in the mid-nineteenth century. Its earliest architectural influences, however, are European in origin, representing divergent traditions in library building that extend as far back historically as the classical and medieval eras. In classical times, the libraries of ancient Greece and Rome were developed as civic monuments, often freestanding and purpose-built, dedicated to scholarly study and discourse, with an emphasis on the formal reading room, and display of books as an integral part of the architecture. By contrast, the medieval library that followed was more utilitarian in design, emphasizing pragmatic accommodation of the individual reader engaged in private study. Here the architectural emphasis was on natural light, and integrated furnishings that facilitated direct access to books, typically accommodated within the confines of existing building complexes like monasteries, churches, and universities. Evolution of the medieval system, from carrel and lectern to stall, culminated in the development of the archetypal alcove library, designed to accommodate growing collections and an increasingly diverse user base. During the Renaissance, revival of classical forms resulted in the development of the archetypal hall library, focusing again on the architecture of the room, which now incorporated a sophisticated wall system of shelving for storing and displaying large collections of books. Integration of classical and medieval precedents subsequently produced a hybrid hall-and-alcove library that would be carried forward and adapted in the earliest public libraries of the nineteenth century in America.

Library of Celsus

Ephesus, Asia Minor

Roman

Second Century

The influence on library design from the classical era of ancient Gre...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Part I: Precedents
• Part II: Projects
• Bibliography
• Image Credits
• Architect and Firm Biographies
• Index